In the Stages section I divide my life into 8 periods, two each for Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, and Elderhood. 

The Stages model I use comes from a book called Nature and the Human Soul by Bill Plotkin.

Here’s an interactive table correlating Plotkin’s Stages with my life. It includes a couple of elements from Plotkin’s system.

Below are links to the Stages using his poetic terms, the more traditional developmental terms, and the ages when I think I was in that stage.

1. The Innocent in the Nest

Early Childhood – Ages 1-5

2. The Explorer in the Garden

Middle Childhood  – Ages 6-12

3. The Thespian at the Oasis

Early Adolescence – Ages 13-21

4.The Wanderer in the Cocoon

Late Adolescence – Ages 21-28

5. The Soul Apprentice at the Wellspring

Early Adulthood – Ages 28-57

6. The Artisan in the Wild Orchard

Late Adulthood – Ages 57-67

7. The Master in the Grove of Elders

Early Elderhood – Age 67-present

8.  The Sage in the Mountain Cave

Late Elderhood

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Very brief sketch of my stages

Early and middle childhood – West Hollywood neighborhood of my grandparents and parents.

Early adolescence – Shiny big suburban junior high, high school, & Stanford

Late adolescence – Six year psychedelic counterculture plunge including Bay Area rock bands and Tennessee communal farm

Early adulthood – 28 years living and studying at Zen Center of Los Angeles. Long slow build from burnt out hippie to family man with a corporate career. Laid off, start from scratch as a public school teacher at age 54.

Late adulthood – Elementary teacher intern followed by an extremely enriching and gratifying  nine year run as a Teacher Librarian at an inner city magnet high school.

Early elderhood – On the health front, two hip replacement surgeries, second one complicated by MRSA infection, Progressive Bulbar Palsy, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, two hospitalizations for urinary infections, and much more. On the personal growth front, about 11 courses, all but the first 2 online, and this monster writing project.  Continued deepening of a 40-year relationship with my soul partner and wife, including the birth of our first grandchild on September 4, 2016,  Silas Alexander Arce.

Late Elderhood – Not there yet